You can contact the Deloitte Halo-whistleblowing portal using this website to report compliance violations.
How do I submit a report:
If you wish to submit a report by name or anonymously, click on Submit Report button on the left of our menu.
1. First of all, you will be asked to read an information text for the protection of your anonymity and to answer a security query.
2. On the following page you can choose whether you wish to report completely anonymously, confidential (restricted) or confidential.
In the case of a completely anonymous report, you do not provide any contact details. Contact will be established exclusively via the Deloitte Halo-whistleblowing portal.
With the confidential (restricted) option, the Deloitte Halo-whistleblowing team will learn your contact details and can get in touch with you. Your report will then be forwarded anonymously to Festo for further processing. Deloitte is not entitled to disclose your identity or information that would allow conclusions to be drawn about your identity to Festo. However, should you wish to do so after speaking with the Deloitte Halo-whistleblowing team, please inform us via the platform by adding further information to your report.
If you submit a confidential report, Festo-Compliance will receive your contact details and will contact you confidentially to process the report.
3. After the selection of your anonymity level, you have to select the location where the problem that you are reporting took place. It is very important to select the location because it makes it easier for the Festo-Compliance team to investigate and address the problems that you are reporting.
4. Next, you will be required to choose the connection level with Festo. You can choose from being an Employee/Officer; Supplier/Employee of Supplier or Other.
5. Once you have selected the anonymity level and connection to Festo you can select the disclosure type that you think fits best to your problem. You will be required to answer to specific questions about the case that you are reporting. Phrase your information in your own words and add as many details as possible. You may also attach files up to 25 MB to support your report. Keep in mind that electronic documents may contain information about the author. If you do not have the technical means to process the files, please select the confidential message. The Deloitte Halo-whistleblowing team will contact you and assist you in processing the files.
6. Before submitting the report you will be required to create a password that you will use together with a Disclosure ID. The Disclosure ID will be provided to you once you have given your consent for the creation of the disclosure.
It is advisable that you save the Disclosure ID and Password in order to add more information to the disclosure reported or to check the status of the disclosure.
7. Your report will be received and processed by Festo-Compliance within 7 days. You can use the Deloitte Halo-whistleblowing portal to receive and answer questions from the Deloitte Halo-whistleblowing team and Festo-Compliance. If you receive additional information later, you can add it to the platform. You will be informed about the progress of the processing via the platform.
Please note that in the case of a completely anonymous report, communication will only take place via the Deloitte Halo-whistleblowing portal. Festo-Compliance relies on your cooperation for an effective processing of the report. This requires that you proactively log on to the platform every day for the first two weeks after the report and answer any questions.
Anonymity
The overriding principle of the Deloitte Halo-whistleblowing portal is to protect the whistleblower. Your report is kept anonymous through encryption and other special security routines. At no point in the reporting process will you be asked for personal information. Do not enter any data that could allow conclusions to be drawn about your person. Please do not use a PC provided by your employer for the report.
Data Protection Information
We take data protection and confidentiality very seriously and adhere to the current national and European data protection regulations. The following section will briefly outline the most important aspects of our data storage system.
The follow-up process may require the forwarding of reports to other employees of the Festo Group or Festo Group members, e.g. if the reports pertain to incidents taking place in subsidiaries of the Festo Group. The latter may be based in countries outside the European Union or the European Economic Area with different regulations about the protection of personal data. Even in the latter case, however, we will always adhere to the strict guidelines set by European data protection standards.
Through the secure Deloitte Halo-whistleblowing portal, Festo-Compliance will give you feedback on what is happening with your report or ask questions if any details are unclear. You will remain anonymous during the dialogue, provided you have chosen the fully anonymous reporting option.
We will store information as long as it is necessary for follow-up purposes or if we have a legitimate interest in storing it due to legal requirements. Subsequently, reports are deleted or made anonymous, i.e. the reference to your identity as a whistleblower and to the accused person is permanently and irreversibly removed.
Information about the accused
We are legally obliged to inform accused parties of any reports received against them as soon as the disclosure of this information no longer jeopardises the investigation. Your identity as a whistleblower will not disclosed unless we are legally bound to do so.
Use of the whistleblowing portal
Communication between your computer and the whistleblower portal takes place over an encrypted connection (SSL). A cookie will be stored on your computer in order to maintain the connection between your device and the Deloitte Halo-whistleblowing portal. This cookie only contains your session ID. The cookie is only valid until the end of your session and expires upon logout or closing the browser.
Your visit to the whistleblower portal may leave traces on your computer, however. If you are accessing the whistleblower portal from a company computer, you might want to clear the temporary files (cache) and browser history afterwards. Some browsers also offer a so-called “private mode“. This mode is preferable: no temporary data are stored, and you do not need to delete anything manually.
Your rights regarding the processing of your personal data
Pursuant to German data protection legislation, you have a right of information, correction, deletion, and locking your personal data. You are entitled to retract your consent to the storage of your personal data at any time without giving reasons. In this case, the necessity of the stored data for the examination of a report will be evaluated immediately. Data that are no longer required will be deleted at once.
Responsible authority and data security
The data controller connected to the whistleblowing portal is Festo SE & Co. KG, Ruiter Strasse 82, 73734 Esslingen, Germany. The whistleblowing portal is operated as a service to the Festo Group by a specialised company: Deloitte GmbH Wirtschaftspruefungsgesellschaft, Rosenheimer Platz 4, 81669 Munich, Germany.